Black-capped Chickadee

busy shelling a sunflower seed on a sunny afternoon

The Intelligence of a Little Bird and My Frozen Brain

--Yesterday--
I was almost ready to enter the house when I heard the distinct call of a bald eagle. Earlier, during my walk, I had seen a large bird high above me being chased and harassed by some crows. I quickly got my camera and went out to the road again, hoping to catch sight of the eagle and his pursuers. No such luck!

While I was standing there, a chickadee zipped past my head, and then two more flew to a nearby poplar tree. One perched in a spruce tree close to where I stood. I began to wonder why they were around me; I had just topped up the bird feeder and put out more suet cakes. Surely they had more important things on their minds, like stoking up their little bodies against the cold, instead of visiting with me. I finally gave up on the eagle, but not before another chickadee landed at my feet and sat there for a couple of seconds. It's true. I'm not joking. I headed back up the driveway, turning to glance in the direction of the feeders. That's when I saw what the problem was and the reason why I had become so popular all of a sudden. The grosbeaks were hogging the bird feeder! The poor chickadees couldn't get to it and had been trying to attract my attention. I scattered more sunflower seeds on a snow bank and on top of the ash can lid that also serves as a platform feeder.

This photo of one spunky small bird was taken several days ago.

Black-capped Chickadee

Chick-a-dee-dee-dee

This is the first day of the Great Bird Count of October. I put up the feeders on Sunday, and it didn't take long before the Black-capped Chickadees were happily sampling the fare.

For more information about this fun event, please follow the link on my sidebar.

9:30 - 10:40
Temperature:10C (50F)
Sunny, blue sky, some cloud

The Chickadees were flying back and forth, coming for sunflower seeds. I sat on a bench near the feeders and counted more than fifteen. Then I went for a walk on the trail. I didn't notice the Grouse in the bushes at the edge of the garden. All I saw of these shy birds was a great flutter of wings when I accidentally disturbed them. I could hear the Grouse making little noises, but I wasn't able to locate them in the thick vegetation. It was fairly quiet in the woods - a crow flew over cawing and the geese were honking somewhere nearby. I checked again on the feeders and took this picture. The Chickadees are being very careful of one another - they don't all come at once. Sometimes two end up being at a feeder at the same time, and then there's usually a squawk from one of them.